Google Earth is a 3D globe that lets you explore imagery of Earth, Mars, the moon, and the sky. Google offers a Linux native client, but not an Ubuntu package. Wondering how to install Google Earth on Ubuntu 10.04? Here’s my recommended method.

Note that 3D acceleration is required to run Google Earth.

Method 1: MedibuntuMedibuntu offers a Google Earth package for Ubuntu 10.04. You can download and install it here. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select your system type (i386/32 bit, amd64/64 bit) to start the download. Double-click on the downloaded package to open the Package Installer, and click Install Package.

Start Google Earth from Applications->Internet->Google Earth.

Method 2: googleearth-package
If the Medibuntu package is out of date or unavailable, you can create your own package with an easy script. The Ubuntu repositories offer a script which can create an easy to install Google Earth package for you.

Open Ubuntu Software Center and install googleearth-package.

Open Applications->Accessories->Terminal

Type the command:make-googleearth-package --force

Wait for the script to build your package. This could take a minute or two depending on the speed of your computer and your Internet connection. At the end you should see:Success!
You can now install the package with e.g. sudo dpkg -i
.deb

You should now have a Google Earth package waiting in your home folder. Open Places->Home Folder, find the package named googleearth_VERSION_ARCH.deb, double-click to open the Package Installer, and click Install Package.

I did exactly this in Ubuntu 10.4. Google Earth does appear in Applications/Internet/ folder twice. I click on any one of them, and get the message
Google Earth konnte nicht in den aktuellen Speicherort der Datei im Cache oder in “Meine Orte” schreiben. Die Werte werden wie folgt festgelegt: (Google Earth could not write in the current storage place of the files in the Cache or in “My Places).
“Meine Orte”-Pfad (“My Places” path ): “/home/MrDog/.googleearth”
Cache-Pfad (Cache path): “/home/MrDog/.googleearth/Cache”

I click OK and Google Earth opens for just a couple seconds, and then disappears again.

That’s great! I used your first method (Medibuntu). It loaded right up and even the Street View icons loaded right up on the face of the earth, unlike my previous version. I used to have to log out of the Server and then log back in to get them. Tooling around with it, it feels like the Windows version, robust and unlikely to crash. With 3D buildings checked, looking at Seattle, the picture swings around quickly with little choking. Very smooth. Everything is nicely colored. I even got brave and rechecked the Atmosphere. No crash yet. When I installed it, I didn’t un-install the previous version, which used to consist basically of deleting the directories where Google Earth resided (using sudo of course). Now the previous icon boots up to the Medibuntu version, so it replaced the previous one automatically. I have struggled with this problem since Jaunty, which explains my elation.

Well, elation tempered. Google Earth just crashed on me when I was “driving” on a Norwegian road using the Street View. It just disappeared. Prior to that it kicked me out of the round ball which houses a Street View. Not sure where to direct this problem. Perhaps I need a more robust NVIDIA video card. Never had this happen in Windows, which is on the same machine, same 3D video card.

I lost my connection part way through and when I restarted I got all kinds of crap that I don’t understand. Finally when I tried to install it I got…
dpkg: error processing .deb (–install):
cannot access archive: No such file or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
.deb

[...] I followed this tutorial thinking it was relevent, correct and that I could easily follow it: http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2010/0…-ubuntu-10-04/ The resulting install is crappy and incomplete. For example, The text in the sidebar of Google [...]